Noble House Home Furnishings LLC filed for bankruptcy with plans to sell its assets after inflation and weakening consumer spending crimped its finances, Bloomberg News reported. The company — which counts Amazon.com Inc., Wayfair Inc., and Target Corp. among its customers — listed assets and liabilities of at least $100 million each in its bankruptcy petition. The filing allows Noble House to keep operating while it works to close a sale of itself to publicly traded GigaCloud Technology Inc. or another, higher bidder. GigaCloud has agreed to buy Noble House’s assets for $85 million, subject to a working capital adjustment, plus $4.1 million for equipment and the assumption of certain debts, according to court papers. The bid sets a floor for further offers and the deal with GigaCloud has an outside closing date of Oct. 31, court papers show. Chatsworth, Calif.-based Noble House was founded in 1992 and is a distributor, manufacturer and retailer of indoor and outdoor home furnishings. Its brands include Christopher Knight Home, LePouf and OkiOki. The company’s sales grew quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic as stuck-at-home customers bought more furniture. But as pandemic restrictions eased, total net sales started falling. They dropped from $671 million in 2021 to $491 million in 2022 and 2023 revenue is projected lower, court papers show. The decrease in sales coupled with persistent inflation and supply chain challenges pushed the company to financial instability. Noble House worked to cut costs in 2023, including reducing headcount, optimizing inventory management and vacating a facility in New Jersey, but those efforts failed to keep it out of bankruptcy.
